


Dark Mind Light

by RavensKey



Series: Short Stories [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 22:13:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17434466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavensKey/pseuds/RavensKey
Summary: Prompt: Ghostly presence.





	Dark Mind Light

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt is not mine: it was a school assignment.
> 
> The rest of this work ↓↓↓
> 
> Copyright © 2018 RavensKey
> 
> All rights reserved

The old house looked like a hungry animal. The door was a mouth, the windows eyes, even the dark grey pebbled walls could have been thick scaled skin.

Damian Laska shook his head and blink, he had to stop daydreaming, that was what had caused the whole problem in the first place. That was why they'd had to move.

'Damian!' he jumped at his mother's shout.

Mrs Laska was a small dark-haired woman whose height was an ironic contradiction to her strong personality. She tapped her foot impatiently. 'Damian, bring your bag in.'

Damian jerked in surprise as he refocused before shivering as he glanced at the house again. It still looked really creepy and he hugged himself as he remembered.

Worry flitted across Mrs Laska's face as she saw him shake. Was he having a flashback? Wasn't the medication supposed to stop that? 'Are you okay Damian?' she hurried over to him, 'Look at me sweetheart, please focus. You're alright. Remember, none of it is real.'

Dizzy, hazy light, too deep shadows, heartbeats, muffled voices as if beneath water and...

'Wake up. You need to see!'

Damian screamed as the voice echoed inside his head and he fell backwards onto the road. 'Mum', he gazed up at her. 'You look scared.'

'Damian, let's just get you inside now', Mrs Laska's voice shook as she gently guided him through the door.

He sighed as he flopped down onto the sofa and sneezed. A huge cloud of dust flew up around him and he choked. Oops, he guesses he should have expected that, no one had lived in the place for the last five years after his Aunt Lacey had jumped off of the roof and broken her back and neck in three places on impact with the ground. The family still wasn't totally sure why but Damian suspected it had been her husband's death by cancer that had driven her to despair. Either way, she'd died in hospital later the same day. Clearly, nobody had bothered dusting the place in the intervening years.

'See Us! We know you can. Listen you little twit.'

Damian stumbled back, his legs hitting the sofa. Why did this happen to him? The cold eerie hum drove through his skull, 'Please stop. Leave me alone.' He curled into a little ball and sobbed.

A warm hand rested on his shoulder, 'Here, here. Take your tablets Damian. You need to calm down.'

***

Mrs Laska's tone was gentle as she rocked him. Poor Damian, she thought, he'd been so sweet and happy. He'd had a perfect life, good looks, smart, loads of friends – and as if in response everything had crashed. In truly spectacular fashion. She still felt sick to her stomach thinking back on the phone call she'd received.

_'Mrs Laska, you are Damian Laska's mother correct?'_

_'Yes, I'm sorry but who is this? Has something happened to my son?' her blood had run to ice water at the time._

_'I'm the Deputy Principal at St Peter's. There has been an incident shall we say. You need to come in as soon as you can.'_

_'I'm on my way. I'll be about fifteen minutes.'_

_She'd made it in ten by speeding the whole way there. The sight of Damian on his knees clutching his head and screaming at nothing had frozen her. She had to drag him out of the school still shrieking._ Some shitty tabloid had gotten wind of the scene and dropped an article full of more bull than most beef. It hadn't done anything for the family's reputation in the eyes of the neighbourhood. Then had come the therapy, the phycologist, the medication, the gossip and Damian had gotten worse and worse and worse. Seeing her soon shut down had been heartbreaking and she had left her job, taken Damian and simply walked away. Mrs Laska wasn't totally sure how they were going to survive but she'd find a way.

***

Damian woke up in the middle of the night. He was lying in bed now, Mum must have tucked him in after he'd had his episode. It was extraordinary silent and dark onside, no traffic or street lights. Just the night. It was so peaceful. Maybe Mum had been right. Maybe it would be better here.

'See us. Listen. Hear. You know what you are.'

Oh God, not again The pills were meant to stop this.

'Please just shut up', he whispered, 'I don't want you.'

The air shimmered and they appeared. Damian's hallucinations were beautiful and inhuman. He'd describe them as ghosts or spectres. Silver, humanoid and wavering like heat shimmers over tarmac.

'Remember what you are.'

Damian carefully reached back to the dresser and popped out a pill. He dry swallowed it. 'You don't exist.'

'See.'

He was standing in the woods now. It was sunny and warm and he felt lighter than ever before, even lighten that before the breakdown. He looked down at himself and started. His skin was clear silver, almost reflective, too long fingers with too many joints.

'Where is this? What am I?'

'Home. Yourself.'

***

Mrs Laska walked into Damian's room and opened the curtains. She froze, 'Damian. Where are you? Damian?!'

The bed was empty, the duvet crumpled. She snatched the pack of medication off the nightstand. Had he overdosed? No. A single pill was gone. '

'Damian. Where are you?'

**Author's Note:**

> I may one day do a follow-up but at the moment I'm happy with it.


End file.
